Proto-Vdangku Language
Proto-Vdangku is the language spoken by the Růmzqūse, who live in the relatively flat landscape of the southern part of the eastern continent. It is a highly inflected language. Phonology Consonants Vowels ' /i u o ə ɛ ʌ a/ Vowels can be doubled or tripled in length. Doubling is denoted by a bar above the vowel, while tripling requires a change in intonation (353) that is denoted by a circumflex. Morphological Processes fric > unvoiced / _plosive, implosive Ci > Cj / _ '''Phonotactics ' (F)©(V)V(V)© *å *iå *iåi *ddiåi *diåim *zdiåim stjəim Semantics Proto-Vdangku is a highly inflected language. Nouns are inflected for a variety of cases, while verbs are inflected for a variety of perspectives, tenses, aspects, and moods. Pronouns As a result of the sparsely populated space, the Růmzqūse tend not to form large groups. Speech is often used for relaying information about things that are not present in the immediate vicinity, and the personal pronoun inventory has developed to meet this need. Pronouns are differentiated by person, either 1st person, or non-1st person (denoted by N), and by quantity, singular or plural. Nouns Nouns are declined for a variety of cases, most of which are locative in nature. Cases include: Absolutive (base), ergative, dative, genitive, comitative (together with)/also used as a copula, sublative (on the surface), subessive (under), superessive (over), mesessive (beside), evitative (to be avoided, related to superessive), attactive (to be attracted to, related to subessive). Nouns can be pluralized by fronting the final syllable vowel, then reduplicating the first onset fricative of the root, if available. imxhe forager.ABS --> imxhixh forager.ABS.pl The language is head-final. Adjectives come before the nouns that they modify, and agree in case and plurality. The following is a declension table for most nouns. 'imxhe '- forager *takes before vowels except , before consonants and . Verbs Verb Inflections Verbs are inflected for: -person: who is performing the action? -tense: past, near past, present -aspect: imperfect, perfect -mood: indicative, imperative, desire (desiderative), potential (can you…/will you…), permissive/prohibitive, necessitative Although the indicative mood can only express past actions, future constructions can be created by inflecting the verb using the various other moods. '''Conjugations Verb roots always end in aspirated consonants or consonant clusters. Modifications are made as follows: růmzq- ''“to run” Indicative, Present, Imperfect This is the default base of the root. Endings are added as shown. '''Completion '''is denoted by unaspirating the final plosive. This gives: ''růmzqå, růmzqā, růmzqåm, růmzqān. Near Past is created by infixing -ia- before the plosive. This gives: růmziaqå, růmziaqā, růmziaqåm, růmziaqān. Past 'has its own set of endings. This gives: ''růmzqi, růmzqiu, růmzqin, růmzqiun. Imperative Mood The imperative has its own set of endings. All commands are considered perfective actions, so the final plosive is unaspirated. růmzqhiůb, růmzqhiůl, růmzqhiēng, růmzqhiēm Desiderative Mood The desiderative mood is created by infixing -''eng''final plosive + indicative endings. This gives: *.DES.imp.pres růmzqengqqå, růmzqengqqā, růmzqengqqåm, růmzqengqqān, *.DES.Perf.pres'' růmzqhengqqå, růmzqhengqqā, růmzqhenqqåm, růmzqhenqqān'', *.Des.imp.Npast ''růmziaqengqqå, růmziaqengqqā, růmziaqengqqåm, růmziaqengqqān.'' The past desiderative is formed differently. Using the appropriate form of the present imperfect desiderative, all vowels not in the root are converted to . This gives: *.DES.past.imp růmzqingqqi, růmzqingqqī, růmzqingqqim, růmzqingqqīn *with shortened forms: růmzqing, růmzqīng, růmzqīm, růmzqīn. Potential Mood Plosive implosivzed, present endings. For singular, -ong is added; for plural, present ending vowel is duplicated, then –ong is added. All verbs in potential mood are imperfect. For past tense, --> . *.POT.imp.pres růmzqqåong, růmzqqāong, růmzqqåmåong, růmzqqānāong *.POT.imp.Npast růmiazqqåong, růmziaqqāong, růmziaqqåmåong, růmziaqqānāong *.POT.imp.past růmzqqing, růmzqqīng, růmzqqīng, růmzqqîng Permissive Mood <-evk-> is suffixed after the root, indicative endings are added. Other transformations follow as normal. Necessitative Mood <-ieong-> is suffixed after the root, indicative endings are added. Other transformation follow as normal. Syntax The basic sentence structure is SOV, although this is not fixed because of case markings. Heads are final, and topics can be fronted for emphasis. Sample Texts The grass fields are endless. But there is nothing, nothing more here for us. vdiamrūziv zbbuongtiz arkå. xhpin, rgiutu xhpin argůd utuxhixh pei neg.ending.GEN.pl grassfield.ABS.pl exist.imp. void.ABS, anymore void.ABS exist.cont.perf 1p.DAT this.place They will welcome you as a prince among princes, and they will worship you as a god among gods. iuvzgiz exhbbevgiānāong ziuvzgå aliggin uaxhīxh, neůlvggevgiānāong alneůik uaxhīxh Np.ABS enter.PERM.POT.Np Ns.ERG prince.SUP other.DAT.pl, worship.PERM.POT king.SUP other.DAT.pl Dialects Dialect groups can be divided into the Northern (Olneůik) and Southern flatland groups. Olneůik Dialect is the standard... Southern Dialect Grammar remains mostly the same. ɛ is mostly lenited or deleted, especially before palatals and velars. *Standard:vdiamrūziv zbbuongtiz arkå. xhpin, rgiutu xhpin argůd utuxhixh pei *ˈsɓuɴ.tʰiz ˈa.ʁkʰə. ɣpʰin, ˈχkʲu.tʰu ɣpʰin a.ˈχkʌd u.tʰu.ˈɣiɣ pʰɛi *Southern:vdāmrūziv zbbūngtiz arkå. xhpin, rgūtu xhpin arged utuxhixh pai *ˈsɓuːŋ.tʰiz ˈa.ʁkʰə. ɣpʰin, ˈχkuː.tʰu ɣpʰin a.ˈχkɛd u.tʰu.ˈɣiɣ pʰai Writing System Proto-Vdangku uses a semifeatural vertical abjad as its writing system. It is composed of simple shapes that can be incised into stone. '''Basic Shapes *'exh' (flat) 一''' *'''ggun (vertical) |''' *'''eůta (slope) ノ The following chart details the consonants of the writing system. All letters have final variants, which are created by simply reflecting the letter over the center axis. Words are separated by spaces between the central axis. Vūlxhe is written top-down, left-right. Category:Vdangku Category:Languages